


The Fall

by theonetryingtolive



Category: Ad Astra (2019)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon thrown out the window, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, as usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25309231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonetryingtolive/pseuds/theonetryingtolive
Relationships: Roy McBride/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The Fall

In his youth, Roy McBride had spent quite a lot of time looking up. At the tender age of five he had understood there was nobody coming down from space to put an end to the aching in his tattered soul.

Life’s little tragedies accumulated inside him without the hope of extirpating the diseases they left behind. Anger, selfishness, and rashness settled in the nooks and crannies under his sternum, and an icy coldness seemed to take a hold of his heart. 

He graduated first in the academy, and rose through the ranks with seeming ease, putting all his colleagues of the same age to shame. He had married, of course, because he felt that it was the right thing to do. His marriage imploded the same day he was given the rank of ‘major’. Such were the ironies of life. 

He flew high, forever reaching for a star that would always be out of his reach. Then came the crash. His own fatal flaw stared back at him when he looked at the tiny window behind which the universe unfolded. He grappled against it, felt his heart straining against the pressure, felt his lungs constrict painfully. 

The fall does not forgive. 

He landed back on ancient soil with a roar of engines and air. But once the dust settled, a heavy silence reigned, if only for a few seconds. He gasped, and coughed as he felt the remnants of hope escape from between his fingers. He was done for. He was lost. His eyes were closed. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard his father’s voice, reading to him the story of Aeneid’s fall. He looked up at the vastness above in silence.

Time rolled on, and in its inexorable way it ate up the charred remains of his heart. That is, until the space descended.

Roy’s uniform was impeccable and he stood to the right of the podium. He did not listen with his usual attentiveness to the speech. As far as he was concerned anything that looked down from above was a curse. 

Then came the unveiling. The large curtain behind the podium fell with a soft swish. He felt his knees grow weak standing before the canvas. Without thinking, Roy took a step forward. Then another, and another until he was standing so close to the asteroids he felt himself transported back to the place where he’d let go of that painful childhood dream. He followed the trail of asteroids on the canvas and found himself looking straight into that which kept the entire universe together. 

Roy felt his heart squeeze in his chest but, perhaps for the first time in his life, there was no pain. You were not doing anything special that he could see, but somehow the vastness of space was encompassed in your smile. 

“Major Roy McBride,” he said, extending a hand towards you in greeting. “Are you the artist?”

“Yes,” you said, taking his hand with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Major. I’ve heard a lot about you. Welcome home.”

Welcome home. 


End file.
